Hard to say. Britain does have the dubious distinction of being the only country (to date IOTL) of developing an independent launch capability, and then giving it up.
Just another example of UK myopic short-termism demonstrated IMHO - and part of the reason France made sure that pulling out...
Well. That happened.
But having a Cosmonaut die (from the looks of things, ending it on his own terms before Radiation Poisoning could) during such a mission, and the fact such an operation had to be performed in the first place.
The reputational damage to the Soviet Union is gonna be, at...
Sounds like 1989 is going to be a poor year for the Soviet Space programme if I read the last part right, can't say it's surprising given how much stress that economy is under by that point.
Not gonna look good if my prediction is correct. Having the beginnings of a permanent Manned Lunar...
IIRC the OTL Hermes reached 23,000 Kg, which combined with soaring costs, and the need to reduce the ESA budget due to Germany absorbing the cost of reunification and the economic downturn in the early 1990's, made the programme financially - and politically IMHO - untenable. Even with a...
Well, that's different.
But with all the pieces on Terra Firma, and the damage only happening on touchdown - minus the TPS Damage during the launch - it should be a little easier to piece together the precise sequence of events that led to the final outcome.
Plus, having Skylab B proving...
Did my eyes deceive me? Or did I just see a Soviet Blok-V-III using a common bulkhead for the LH2 & LOX?
I'll reiterate my previous statement that I can't see many flights of Baikal - even if they can have more thanks to not needing to design, build, and test a whole new LV from the ground up...
Given the state of the Soviet Economy at this time - and Reagan's policies not helping them any - I'm not seeing too many flights of Baikal...
Love the render though. Is that during take-off? Or landing?
IMHO, in some ways, developing the LOX/LH2 Block-V-III 3rd stage for the N1 would be the simpler solution for them.
I think it's already in development for the Baikal Orbiter, so it makes perfect sense to me for them to use it for another purpose, in this instance, allowing for a larger Block...
The main advantage I see here, is a greater engine-out capability.
While the 30-engine N1 Black-A could lose up to 4 of its 30 engines before even clearing the launch tower without affecting the mission. In reality, due to the need to shut down the opposing engine to maintain thrust...
Frank Borman? Interesting choice, though I see just 4 years on the job there.
As I see it, the repeated pushing for Grandiose Missions with Price Tags to Match could well have done more to cripple Post-Apollo efforts than any other single factor - to go back to my earlier mention of 'Apollo's...
A little late posting here, but...
Lunar Dust, I'll admit that's not something I really considered for these longer-duration Manned Lunar Missions, and being forced to cut their landing/mission short on account of it wasn't something I saw coming.
Still, at least they got back none-the-worse...
IIRC, the Titanic was designed to remain afloat if any 2 or 3 of its 16 watertight compartments were flooded - or the forward 4 - which actually exceeded the Maritime Regulations of the day.
But since the forward 5 were taking on water - with the 5th surpassing the ability of the pumps to...